Tennis Coach Sven Groeneveld shares with us a bit about one of his great friends, Bobby Blair. Hope the readers enjoy the insights from Sven’s life on the tour.
THE BADGE CHRONICLES
Bobby Blair
When I was part of the Men’s tennis team at University Of Kansas we travelled to Kentucky for an indoor tennis event. Our host turned out to be the super host for many other teams and players in the past. One of the players that I became great friends with over time, by the name of Bobby Blair (you have to read his book “Hiding Inside The Baseline”)! In 1993 When I was in between jobs I went to visit Bobby at his academy in Orlando. Bobby was one of the most talented players of his time and turned into a coach entrepreneur. Besides having his own academy and a pro traveling team, he also was one of the leading coaches for World Team Tennis for Billie Jean King. Bobby had all the connections, since I had just had a great run with Monica Seles and Mary Pierce, he thought it was a great idea to introduce me to Betsy Nagelsen and Mark McCormack.
They were looking for somebody to hit with at their home in Orlando. The Badge that I have included (also found in my storage) is of Bobby during the U.S. Open where he was coaching Kathy Rinaldi (since 2016 the Fed Cup captain of USTA and in charge of the development program.) Kathy was of great help to me while I was coaching Sloane Stephens last year! And the rest is History!
*All the information for this article was attained through explicit permission from Sven Groeneveld to be published on 10sBalls.com – no lifting or reusing is permitted.